Broadband offers misleading

BROADBAND internet companies are deliberately misleading consumers, experts said today. They say an array of packages and technical jargon mean most users do not know what they are buying.

A Consumers' Association study found set-up costs ranged from zero to £70, and dozens of different speeds were all marketed as broadband products.

'It's an absolute minefield of technical jargon,' said Dylan Armhurst, editor of Computeractive magazine. Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has now launched an inquiry into the market. New government figures show 32.8% of internet users have high-speed connections, more than double the figure 12 months ago. Such links have overtaken traditional dial-up connections for the first time.

However, Mr Armhurst says the sheer number of broadband products available is the main cause for concern.

'A single company can offer dozens of different packages, and there are over 100 companies offering these services, so it is no wonder people often get the wrong package,' he said. 'There is an awful lot of confusion and it needs to be sorted out as consumers are being misled.'

Broadband packages, which cost up to £25 a month, provide permanent internet-access through a normal telephone line and speeds far higher than traditional modems.

But Mr Armhurst said many firms were using technical terms to confuse customers. He urged them to use plain English to tell users what they are getting.

'There are a lot of things to consider - installation fees, speed, and the cost of a modem. Adding in a lot of technical terms is going to confuse matters even more. There needs to be action to get clear packages so that people understand what they are paying for.'

The Consumers' Association study of the broadband industry found many companies failed to highlight the different speeds of services.

The association found several firms cap the amount of data customers can download. Some provided modems free as part of a deal while others charged hundreds of pounds.

Top Ten Broadband suppliers
(Firms were ranked on service, support and customer service)

N.B. Cost is based on a connection speed of 512 Mb/s (megabytes per second) except for Blueyonder (256), Wanadoo (1024) and NTL (600).